WCQS

WCQS/WFQS/WMQS
City WCQS: Asheville, North Carolina
WFQS: Franklin, North Carolina
WMQS: Murphy, North Carolina
Broadcast area Western North Carolina
Branding Western North Carolina Public Radio
Slogan "NPR news, classical music & more"
Frequency 88.1 MHz (WCQS)(also on HD Radio) 91.3 MHz (WFQS)
88.5 MHz (WMQS)
First air date Early 1980s
Format Classical music/news/talk
BBC World Service on HD2 (via WYQS)
Power 1600 watts (WCQS)
265 watts (WFQS)
49 watts (WMQS)
HAAT 356 meters (WCQS)
702 meters (WFQS)
196 meters (WMQS)
Class C3 (WCQS)
C3 (WFQS)
A (WMQS)
Facility ID 71923 (WCQS)
71880 (WFQS)
173770 (WMQS)
Transmitter coordinates 35°35′23″N 82°40′26″W / 35.58972°N 82.67389°W / 35.58972; -82.67389 (WCQS)
35°10′24″N 83°34′52″W / 35.17333°N 83.58111°W / 35.17333; -83.58111 (WFQS)
35°07′37″N 83°04′35″W / 35.12694°N 83.07639°W / 35.12694; -83.07639 (WMQS)
Affiliations NPR
Owner Western North Carolina Public Radio
Sister stations WYQS
Webcast Listen
Website www.wcqs.org

WCQS (88.1 FM) is the flagship National Public Radio member station for Asheville, North Carolina and Western North Carolina. The station is currently owned by Western North Carolina Public Radio.[1][2]

History

WCQS began in the early 1980s as WUNF-FM, a 10 Watt station later upgraded to 110-watt station operated by the University of North Carolina at Asheville from the Lipinski Student Center. Western North Carolina Public Radio bought the station in 1984, changed the calls to WCQS, and immediately secured a membership agreement with NPR. While most of the station's coverage area was served by South Carolina Educational Radio's Upstate outlet, WEPR in Greenville, WNCPR wanted to build a station that would be tailored to the area's interests.

Eventually, the station increased its power to 1,600 watts, still a fairly modest level for a full NPR member on the FM band. This may be due to the need to protect WRVL in Lynchburg, Virginia, located at adjacent 88.3. As a result, even though its transmitter is located 3,609 feet (1,100 m) above sea level, its coverage area is effectively limited to Asheville and its close-in suburbs in Buncombe, Haywood and Henderson counties.

In 2005, WNCPRI bought WVMH, a radio station operated by Mars Hill College, and changed its calls to WYQS. Originally a straight simulcast of WCQS, it broke off in 2008 and now airs the BBC World Service full-time. WYQS operates at only 100 watts, but is available on WCQS' HD subcarrier.

In the summer of 2010, Jody Evans joined WCQS as executive director, replacing Ed Subkis, who held the job for 18 years. She wanted WCQS to become a source for news and information, and she planned on more area news coverage and working with other news media. Other than that, no major changes were planned. One joint project was live broadcasts from Brevard Music Center, which would use the resources of WDAV in the Charlotte area.[3]

Evans said in February 2011 that WCQS would have more emphasis on local news, and that David Hurand's evening shows "Byline", "Conversations", and "Evening Rounds" would be dropped. Hurand was adding local news reports during the more popular shows Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Competition from television was one reason for the change. New national shows being added included Marketplace and The Splendid Table.[4]

On March 24, 2013, WCQS added WMQS at 88.5 FM, to serve the Murphy area.[5]

Translators

WCQS operates two full-powered satellites, WFQS in Franklin, at 91.3 FM and WMQS in Murphy at 88.5 FM, as well as nine low-powered translators to serve its vast and mountainous coverage area. Together, the stations are known as "The Mountain Air Network."

Call sign Frequency
(MHz) 		City of license FCC info
W298AY 107.5 Black Mountain, North Carolina FCC
W220EA 91.9 Brevard, North Carolina FCC
W209AD 89.7 Clyde, North Carolina FCC
W209AE 89.7 Cullowhee, North Carolina FCC
W275BU 102.9 Waynesville, North Carolina FCC
W218AB 91.5 Sylva, North Carolina FCC
W250AN 97.9 Tryon, North Carolina FCC
W277CU 103.3 Highlands, North Carolina FCC
W234AS 94.7 Bryson City, North Carolina FCC

The Bryson City and Highlands translators are nominally repeaters of WFQS. However, WFQS is a straight simulcast of WCQS.

On March 6, 2017, an Asheville translator W300CR at 107.9 will begin broadcasting some WCQS but also NPR or other programming not heard on WCQS or reruns of NPR programs run early. The transloator will also air local community-oriented programs.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "WCQS Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. ↑ "WCQS Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  3. ↑ Sandford, Jason (2010-08-02). "New WCQS executive director Jody Evans aims for more voices, more listeners". Asheville Citizen-Times. Retrieved 2010-08-06.
  4. ↑ Motsinger, Carol (2011-02-15). "WCQS revamps local focus". Asheville Citizen-Times. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
  5. ↑ Kiss, Tony (2013-03-24). "WCQS signal expands west". Asheville Citizen-Times. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
  6. ↑ Boyle, John (January 9, 2017). "Answer Man: Major expansion, new signal for WCQS?". Asheville Citizen-Times. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
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